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Using realistic stories for purposes of moral and religious education
What man has done, man can do. — Old Proverb. Men will not suffer martyrdom for an abstraction. — Marvin R. Vincent. . Their main purpose is to make an impression. This is the purpose of every story-teller, whether he be inspired or not inspired, and therefore, in all story-telling questions of fact fall into the background and questions of method take precedence. — Ibid. And this is the tragedy of the book of Jonah, that a book which is made the means of one of the most sublime revelations of truth in the Old Testament should be known to most only for its connection with a whale. — George Adam Smith (?). Nature can take liberties with facts that art dare not. — E. F. Andrews. REALISTIC STORIES AND HOW TO USE THEM STORIES from history and biography, personal remi¬niscences,true stories of animals, and all others that profess to be accounts of actual happenings belong to this class. They have a special value because besides suggesting a principle they also indicate how it may receive specific application in life. The deeds of the Christian martyrs and of the modest heroes of every-day life have a certain power which is beyond that of the most beautiful myth. The story of what Jesus did means more than all the visions of all the prophets. It is only because we cannot always find true stories that enforce the desired lesson effectively that those which are the product of the imagi¬nation are sometimes preferred. In these studies attention was directed to the idealistic stories first because they often furnish better examples of the story type. Because they are stories from the first, and only stories, they are less likely to be complicated with other literary forms. The fact that our realistic stories are often taken from history, biography, or natu¬ral history tends to favor the retention of facts that are not of value for our use, or leads to undue emphasis upon what should have only an incidental or subordinate place. Hence we must carefully guard the selection of material in planning a story of this type. A narration of facts Is not necessarily a story. Here, as with stories of the other type, there must be a beginning, a succession of REALISTIC STORIES events, a climax, and an end. The facts must be so pre¬sented as to make the appeal to the emotions; and es¬pecially the unity of the story must be observed. One choice must be traced to its result, one act to its out¬come, one germinal impulse to its fruition. Each life is compounded of a thousand elements that will never appear in just that combination again; hence no man can order his life after another. But the story brings before the hearer one of the little entities which make up the complex. Certain elements, common to all lives, are isolated that they may speak their message to every mind and heart. Separated from the many non¬essential or less significant circumstances, the lesson of one slowly growing passion or one unconsidered deed stands clearly forth. Valuable as realistic stories are, if the really significant facts are emphasized and the non-essential elements are eliminated, there is one caution that the teacher of morals must always keep in mind when they are used. If such stories are to be effective, they must not only be true but must seem to be true. It is not the startling and unusual, but rather that which does not test credulity that is impressive here. In the idealistic story, which does not pretend to be true, the wildest extravagances may really add to its effectiveness, but when a story which claims to be true stirs a doubt in the hearer's mind, that element of dis¬trust tends to be carried over to the lesson which it is designed to impress. An illustration will be more con¬vincing than many arguments. The author of a popular book on personal religion emphasizes the necessity of keeping heart and mind in touch with God if the life is to possess spiritual power. In presenting the thought he uses an illustration which describes a town in the arid region of Colorado. "Some enterprising citizens," he says, "ran a pipe up the hills to a lake of clear, sweet water. As a result the town enjoyed a bountiful supply of water the year round without being dependent upon the doubtful rainfall. And the population increased and the place had quite a Western boom. One morning the housewives turned the water spigots, but no water came. . . . The men climbed the hill. There was the lake as full as ever. They examined around the pipes as well as possible, but could find no break. Try as they might they could find no cause for stoppage. And as the days grew into weeks, people commenced moving away again, the grass grew in the streets, and the prosperous town was going back to its old sleepy condition when one day one of the town offi¬cials received a note. It was poorly written, with bad spelling and grammar, but he never cared less about writing and grammar than just then. It said in effect: Ef you'll jes' pull the plug out of the pipe about eight inches from the top you'll get all the water you want.' Up they started for the top of the hill, and examining the pipe, found the plug which some vicious tramp had in¬serted. . . . Out came the plug; down came the water freely; by and by back came prosperity." Having read the illustration, analyze your own mental reaction to it. The message which the author is trying to teach is an important one, but many will feel that its force is greatly weakened by the way in which it is pre sented. Every intelligent person knows that no town was ever abandoned for so trivial a reason — that within twenty-four hours such a difficulty would have been located and relieved. This feeling that the author is vouching for a fiction, a sham, is naturally carried over from the illustration to the religious truth. Or, if this is not the case, there may be a subtler effect — a feeling that a writer who will use so unsuitable an illustration has hardly mastered the truth himself, and so is not qualified as a teacher. Beside this put Jesus' illustration of the same truth: "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches." The effective¬ness of the latter illustration is not simply because it deals with facts; the stories of Dives and Lazarus and of the Prodigal Son are as effective whether they are bits of actual biography or not. The weakness of the first illustration is not because it is untrue, but because what is manifestly untrue is vouched for as fact. Much of this unfortunate effect would have been avoided had the writer used the incident as an idealistic story, that is, if he had introduced it by saying, "They tell in the West a story which is exceedingly improbable, but which clearly illustrates my thought." So important is it that the realistic story should carry the air of reality that the teacher may sometimes be led to present as if it were imaginary a story which he knows to be true, or at least to ignore the question of his¬torical accuracy if it is doubted by the class. Surely it is folly to sacrifice the opportunity to enforce an important truth by insisting upon non-essential fact. A teacher may spend thirty-five minutes in attempting to demon¬strate that the story of Jonah and the fish is of the realistic type, and still fail to convince his class. Another, ig¬noring that question, may center attention on the relig¬ous significance of the story, and so enforce a lesson that is of the greatest importance to his pupils in their daily lives. Jesus' teachings in the twelfth chapter of Matthew and the eleventh chapter of Luke are just as clear and just as impressive to those who believe that the story of Jonah is a parable. It is in the realization of these differences in the nature and pedagogical use of idealistic and realistic stories that the teacher finds help toward the solution of the prob¬lem of how to use the early Old Testament stories in the religious instruction of children, in view of the con¬clusions of modern Biblical scholarship. So largely have the conclusions of historical Bible study become a part of the teaching of the pulpit, the theological seminaries, and influential religious papers, and so deeply have they entered into the thought of the Christian home that many a teacher finds real difficulty at this point. The subject is introduced here not to make a plea for any method of Bible study or for any conclusions that have been reached by any school of students, but to aid the teacher to a solution of the pedagogical problem that arises out of the situation as it is. Those who have no difficulties will find no help in the suggestions offered. The difficulty arises not simply because the miracu¬lous appears in these stories, but grows out of the fact that in Babylonian, Chaldean, and other records appear versions of these same stories which long antedate the writing of the Old Testament. In these older versions there is a much lower moral tone, and polytheistic con¬ceptions are universal, yet the correspondence is so close, both in content and form, that a common origin is im¬plied. These facts, together with many discoveries as to the history of the peoples mentioned in the Biblical records, suggest an uncertainty as to just how we are to regard many of the Bible stories on their historical side. If they are presented as absolutely correct state¬ments of fact, and later the child comes to doubt them, will he not be likely to lose faith in the Bible as a message from God ? In fact, as we all know, this has often been the result. What shall the teacher do ? The best answer to the question would seem to be found by a study of the aims and methods of those who first used these stories. From such investigation it at once appears that the Old Testament historical books were given their present form by prophets who had not a historical but a religious aim. Their primary purpose was not to teach facts concerning the development of the Hebrew nation — which facts of course they did not have at first hand — but to teach that God rules his world, and that he punishes sin and rewards righteous¬ness. Reverent students tell us that these men used these stories for the same purpose that a modern preacher uses illustrations in his sermon, and that like the preacher of to-day they used both the accurate records of history and the traditions and stories that had been orally trans¬mitted from a distant past. If these latter gave perverted ideas of God and goodness, they were purged of their immorality and made to conform to the prophet's ideal of God. The chief aim was not to record past events, but effectively to influence future conduct by revealing God's relations with men; their concern was not that they should be true in a narrowly literal sense — the prophet may not have known as to that — but that they should teach The Truth. The teacher's part is not necessarily to accept the findings of these students, and surely not to teach them to the child, but may we not say that it is to use the stories for this moral and religious aim? If the child asks, "Is this story true ? " he may, as Mrs. Houghton suggests, reply," Never mind. What is the truth that it teaches ? " And if the child responds to the inner meaning of the fairy-tale, the myth, and the legend, surely he will to the message of these stories that prepared the way for the fuller revelation that came in the Christ. Having found the meaning of the message he will not be disturbed by new conjectures as to its form. Whether one believes in verbal inspiration or not, "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." WHAT OTHERS SAY HINTS FOR FIRST - HAND STUDY Consider the effect upon your mental attitude when a speaker describes an incident, of which you read long ago, as a recent personal experience; has this a bearing upon the question in hand ? When the story of Jonah is mentioned, what are the associations which it brings up ? Would they be the same if it had been commonly presented as an idealistic story ? Select several of the parables of Jesus and try to decide whether or not they would be more impressive if you could know that they were accurate descriptions of what Jesus had seen. Is there any advantage in the use of a realistic rather than an idealistic story if it does not directly suggest conduct which you desire to secure in the hearer ? From this point of view compare the story of the Fall, of the capture of Jericho, and of Jonah and the fish with the stories of the boyhood of Jesus, of Jesus and the woman taken in sin, and the feast at the house of Simon. OUTLINE FOR STUDY OF THE TOPIC t. Realistic Stories. a. The various kinds. b. Their special value. c. A danger to be guarded in their use. 2. The Old Testament Stories. a. Difficulties in connection with their use. b. Was the original use idealistic ? c. If used in the idealistic way, will they accomplish their purpose ?